Taylor Hicks became the fifth person, and second male, to be crowned American Idol during Wednesday’s two-hour season-five finale of Fox’s hit show, which lured 35.4 million total viewers, making it the program’s second-biggest finale ever, writes Media Life. The 2003 standoff between Clay Aiken and winner Ruben Studdard still holds the record at 38 million viewers.
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Rupert Murdoch’s News International’s parent group News Corporation, which bought online social network MySpace in 2005 for $508 million, is expected to integrate the popular social networking site with its newspaper properties, writes U.K.-based Journalism. Murdoch, who was initially skeptical of the internet, now thinks online media operations are fundamental elements to the survival of publishing.
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Over the past year, the weekly internet radio audience has increased 50 percent, with 12 percent of Americans over the age of 12 having listened to internet radio in the past week, a 50 percent increase over last year’s 8 percent estimate, according to a study by Arbitron/Edison Media Research, writes Radio Ink.
Exactly one year after leaving her president/CEO post at apparel cataloger Lands’ End, Mindy Meads, on August 4, will become president and CEO of women’s intimates cataloger Victoria’s Secret Direct, writes Multichannel Merchant.
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Dallas, Texas, is getting its own “Times Square,” as construction begins on the city’s Victory Plaza, to be located in the heart of the city and bordered by two five-story buildings housing high-end retail shops on the ground floor, reports Austin, Texas ABC affiliate, KVUE.
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Direct-to-consumer computer systems provider Dell has announced that it plans to open its first full-sized retail stores in Dallas this summer and in West Nyack, New York, this fall, according to a Dell spokesperson, writes the Los Angeles Times.
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In an effort to promote reading to its citizens, the city of Istanbul has placed very large books around the city that double as benches, Adrants writes.
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Multichannel apparel merchant Coldwater Creek Inc.’s net sales increased 38.3 percent to $215.3 million in the first fiscal quarter of 2006. Direct segment net sales were up 20.7 percent to $86.7 million - or 40.3 percent of the company’s total net sales, down from last year’s 46.2 percent - while retail sales increased 53.5 percent to $128.6 million, writes DM News.
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Although the majority of Republicans voted against chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin’s “network neutrality” bill 20-13, with the help of all the Democrats, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday passed the legislation that would use antitrust law to enforce nondiscrimination in the provision of internet service by networks like cable operators and phone companies, writes Broadcasting & Cable. The bill adds another obstacle to the passage of telecom reform legislation this session.
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Sara Lee released late Wednesday more information regarding its plan to spin off a branded $4.7 billion apparel unit, to be called Hanesbrands, which will be a separate, independent and publicly traded global apparel company, writes BrandWeek.
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ABCNews.com users can now access ad-supported BBC-produced video content, an addition stemming from an exclusive agreement the two signed earlier this year, writes MediaWeek.
Less than two weeks after NBC presented its 2006-07 primetime schedule to advertisers, the network is following through on its consideration to switch up its lineup, moving Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip from its original Thursday slot to Monday night at 10 p.m. and moving Deal or No Deal to fill in the Thursday 9 p.m. vacancy, writes MediaWeek.
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Wednesday, the judge presiding over CBS Radio’s breach-of-contract lawsuit brought against its former talk-show host Howard Stern said that the case had settled, though no official statements of an agreement had been released by the lawyers on both sides, writes The New York Times.
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Yahoo and eBay have reached a multiyear advertising and business partnership to better compete against search leader Google, Reuters reports (via MarketingVOX and Search Engine Lowdown). Their joint efforts will begin this year. Yahoo will be the exclusive third-party provider of graphic ads on eBay’s auction site, and will provide sponsored search for complementary products on some eBay.com search results pages. The two companies also said they would work to jointly develop “click-to-call” ad technologies for their websites.
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To promote “An Inconvenient Truth,” their global-warming movie/documentary, former Vice-President Al Gore and Paramount Classics have partnered with MySpace because it has “a unique ability to mobilize its community around an urgent cause,” Gore said in a statement. MediaPost writes (via MarketingVOX) that the campaign includes a custom-designed area in MySpace where members can meet and exchange ideas.
Hundreds of thousands of EchoStar’s Dish Network customers may lose access to network TV following the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a lower court that found that EchoStar had illegally provided customers with signals of distant network stations rather than local affiliates, Mediaweek reports.
The panel told the lower court to issue an injunction barring EchoStar from offering distant network signals.
General Motors is offering $1.99-a-gallon fuel for buyers of certain vehicles in California and Florida, Brandweek reports. Those customers must also enroll in the OnStar vehicle diagnostic service.
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Snapple beverages will be the sole sponsor of all programming and promotions on WFNX, a Boston FM station that also broadcasts through affiliates into Maine and New Hampshire, The New York Times reports. For more than $2 million, WFNX Radio Network will eliminate all conventional commercials from the Memorial Day weekend through the Fourth of July.
In place of traditional spots, D.J.’s will acknowledge Snapple on the air for its sponsorship of what is being called the “Summer Free for All.” The D.J.’s on WFNX and its affiliates - WFEX-FM in Manchester, N.H., and WPHX-FM in Portsmouth, N.H. - will identify the Snapple brand as the benefactor behind an array of promotions like free concerts, giveaways at area beaches, and events with retailers that sell Snapple products. Online elements include a special Website which will be accessible from FNX’s main Web site with downloadable music, ring tones and voice tones, and text messaging.
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